How to report incorrectly matched Shazams

Report Shazam songs - hero image

You can report Shazam songs that are identified incorrectly, a great way to not only improve your experience but also help make the app better for everyone. Follow along with us as we show you how to report Shazam songs when you think the app has produced wrong matches.

TUTORIAL: How to sing along with Shazam

Keep in mind that this feature requires Shazam or Shazam Encore for iPhone and iPad with the version number at least 13.21 or higher. To see the version of your copy of Shazam, launch the app and swipe to Library, then hit the cog wheel icon in the top-left corner and choose About.

Report Shazam songs - Shazam app version number

The app’s version should be displayed at the bottom of the About screen.

How to report Shazam songs

One time Shazam gave me five times the wrong song before it discovered it correctly. Should that ever happen to you, be sure to follow the steps in the tutorial embedded ahead in order to help the service deliver better results by reporting any incorrectly identified songs.

  1. Open Shazam or Shazam Encore version 13.21 or higher on your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Swipe to the middle screen between Library and Charts, then tap to Shazam a song.
  3. If you think the service hasn’t matched the right song, tap the overflow menu (the button with three vertical dots) when on the song details screen, then choose the option labeled with the text “Wrong song? Tell Shazam” from the popup menu.
  4. To confirm that you’d like to report a song to Shazam, tap Report.

A message saying “Thanks for reporting” will appear briefly near the top of the screen to confirm that Shazam has received your complaint. “Help Shazam to deliver better results by reporting songs that were identified incorrectly,” reads the prompt.

Report Shazam songs - iPhone screenshot
Reporting incorrectly matched Shazams helps make the service better for everyone

If you use Shazam on your Apple devices through Siri, saying “Hey Siri, that’s not the right song” is not the same as reporting an incorrect match in Shazam’s mobile app.

Report Shazam songs - "Thanks for reporting" message
Confirmation that Shazam received your complaint

In case you decide to tell Siri that Shazam has incorrectly matched a song, the assistant will simply fire up another listening session to attempt to recognize the right song playing in your vicinity. Contrast that with reporting a song from within the Shazam app, which directly contributes to helping the service deliver better results not just for you, but for everyone.

Shazam and Apple

Shazam is a popular song-recognition app for iPhone and Android which Apple acquired in December 2017 for a reported $400 million. Following the acquisition, the Shazam team has continued to issue updates to its mobile app, helping increase its user base.

TUTORIAL: Creating an Apple Music playlist with Shazam-identified tracks

Three years prior to the acquisition, Apple released the iOS 8 update which brought Shazam’s intelligence to Siri, letting users leverage the digital assistant for seamless song identification.

Report Shazam songs - Siri integration

Shazam and ad-free Shazam Encore are available free of charge via the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. Shazam also maintains an iMessage app that makes it easy to identify a song and send it to the recipient without leaving the Messages app.

TUTORIAL: Seeing all songs Siri has identified using Shazam engine

Shazam integration was added to Siri on the Apple Watch in the watchOS 6 update that released in September 2019. And with iOS and iPadOS 13.4, a new “Shazam It” action was added to the Shortcuts app so you can use Shazam’s rich results in custom workflows.

Are you a Shazam user?

Do you use Shazam’s app on your devices or do you prefer to use Siri integration? I prefer to invoke Shazam via Siri because it’s the fastest way to use it even if the dedicated app has compelling features that cannot be accessed via Siri.

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